94 MANAGEMENT OF HOUNDS. 



The number of hounds to form the hunting pack in 

 the field should not exceed 20 couples, 16 or 18 are quite 

 sufficient, the efficiency of the pack not depending upon 

 numbers, but the individual merits of each hound. 

 Young hounds of the first season are seldom of much 

 use, and often do a great deal of mischief ; they must 

 not, therefore, be considered as rendering any service, or 

 conducing to the strength of the pack, but be rather 

 treated as lookers-on. Never take out too many young 

 hounds together — four or five couples are enough at a 

 time — until they are become quite steady. Some young 

 hounds are slow to enter, and I have known them re- 

 main at the horse's heels for months, without showing 

 any disposition to join the pack. Such are often drafted 

 by the huntsman as useless, but I have found them turn 

 out better in the end than those which have at once set 

 to work. Precocious talents do not often stand the test 

 of time so well as those of slower development. There 

 is only one fault for which I should at once draft a 

 hound : his being noisy or too free with his tongue — 

 this fault generally increases with his years, and is, in 

 my opinion, the greatest a hound can possess. 



Having an aversion to sending my brood bitches long 

 distances to other kennels, it was my custom to take a 

 few couples, or even the whole unentered lot of young 

 hounds, from a kennel with which I wished to cross, 

 with the prospect of one or two of these young hounds 

 proving of service to me afterwards, and I had thus an 

 opportunity of judging from my own observation of the 

 qualities they possessed, instead of trusting to the re- 

 presentation of others. I derived great benefit from this 

 course of proceeding, in many instances ; but I once had 

 a lot of young hounds sent me from the Cheshire ken- 



